Amid unique ballot circumstances this year, voter turnout in El Paso County’s presidential primary Tuesday hit average levels, just trailing the almost 43% it hit in the 2020 primaries.

That’s despite a down-to-the-wire ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing Donald Trump to remain on Colorado’s ballot and some confusion over a slew of listed candidates who no longer were in the running by Election Day, Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker said.

Just over 40% of El Paso County’s 470,432 active, registered voters returned Republican and Democratic primary ballots, he said Wednesday morning. Voters weighed in on their preferred candidates for this November’s presidential election.

He expects that number to grow some as his office continues processing more than 50,000 ballots returned by 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Over the next eight days, county elections officials will also process ballots from military and overseas voters as well as some ballots that must be “cured” to be counted because voters initially forgot to sign the ballot envelope, the ballot signature does not match the signature on file, or they need to provide necessary ID.

“I thought this was an extremely successful election here in El Paso County,” Schleiker said.

Voters were motivated to help select the Republican and Democratic nominees for the Nov. 5 presidential election, he said. Democratic President Joe Biden and former President Trump, a Republican, became their parties’ presumptive White House nominees on Super Tuesday, the biggest primary day of the year.

In El Paso County, Biden won 84.3% of the Democratic vote and Trump took 66.5% of the Republican vote, according to unofficial returns.

The Super Tuesday turnout is in line with the average turnout for presidential primary elections, which is typically in the low 40% range for El Paso County, the clerk said.

That’s notable because there were some particular situations surrounding the ballot this year.

Both major parties’ ballots were crowded, but most of the listed candidates suspended their campaigns by the time Colorado’s 3.8 million active, registered voters began receiving ballots in the mail nearly three weeks ago. It confused some voters who were unsure which candidates were still in the race, Schleiker said.

Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled to keep Trump on the state ballot.

The decision from the nation’s highest court overturned a contrary December ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court that removed Trump under a constitutional provision barring candidates who have engaged in an insurrection. The federal ruling removed a question over what would happen with votes cast for Trump if the U.S. Supreme Court found him ineligible to hold office.

Nearly 30% of El Paso County voters who participated in the primaries cast their ballots on Election Day.

“This is stuff we’ve never dealt with before and some voters were confused or holding onto their ballots and waiting until the last minute,” Schleiker said.

Schleiker expects voter turnout in the Nov. 5 General Election eight months from now — where El Paso County residents will cast their votes for federal, state and county offices, including the nation’s president — will hit around 85%.

Data from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office show El Paso County voter turnout in the last presidential election in 2020, in which Trump lost his bid for reelection and Biden won his first term as president, was just over 84%.

A voter drops their presidential primary ballot on Monday, March 4, 2024, at Centennial Hall in Colorado Springs, where the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office set up a temporary drive-up station to help voters avoid cold winds.

Mary Shinn, The Gazette